Kevin Gordon "Colfax"

School.  Can you believe that so much of our lives are informed by who we were and what transpired then?  I have been looking back again lately, maybe because Facebook makes all the eras mesh so seamlessly.  When I was in school I loved to dance.  Saturday night at Sam’s Burger Joint, I had the great good luck to see the Texas Tornados on their home turf in San Antonio.  They were a joy, between Augie Meyers on keyboards and Flaco Jimenez on accordion, how can you have a bad time?  And Shawn Sahm and the rest of the band do such a great job of keeping the spirit of Doug Sahm and Freddy Fender alive as well.  I am always so taken with the multi-culturalism of the audiences there. White, Hispanic, African American, all enjoying the music together. On Saturday night, there was a woman dancing, wizened, wiry and yet somehow spry. She had a cane but was helped to the dance floor, where she held court without it all evening.  At the end of the night, I asked her daughter how old she was, and she said, "92." God bless her.

Kevin Gordon is an East Nashville cat, by way of Louisiana. He is a natural resource, harnessing the energy of rocking and rolling instead of the sedentary life of poesy.  I was so happy to make the booking with him during our Americana outreach.  Our first time with Kevin, though I had been playing his music for years on the radio.  

Kevin’s plan is to do a new album, Gloryland, in 2012, and he played us a new song, "Colfax,"  that I suspect will be on it.  Peter Cooper of the Nashville Tennessean has said, "We'll empty your spit-valve for life if you find us anything more stunning than 'Colfax,' [Kevin Gordon's] undeniably superb song that could only have come from one mind, and from one person's experience. It's ostensibly about a kid in the marching band but winds up being about the heart of American darkness and the steel that it takes to move beyond."  So here's "Colfax," from our recent Nashville stint.

-- Jessie Scott

Ange Boxall "Fireflies"

Halloween weekend, and there are costumes everywhere. I particularly love seeing the kids come to the door, and the grown-ups in full drag everywhere in the evening. Walking the streets, in the supermarkets. It is so much fun to step out of your comfort zone. Imaginative, fun, sexy; this year’s fare includes Angry Birds, Black Swans, Snooki, Lady GaGa, Waldo, Charlie Sheen. Of course there are all the old stand-bys, pirates and ghosts and witches and such. And don’t forget, with white face, black eyes and a drizzle of blood, an everyday outfit can be zombie-ized. Out in California this past July 4th weekend, I was among the perennial parties-goers that attend the High Sierra Music Festival. There were Merry Pranksters and gypsies, and lots of ethereal wings on the women with hippie threads (and it wasn’t even Halloween yet!). Yes, wings are big business this year.

We get our wings today from Tasmanian, by way of England, Ange Boxall. She spends quite a bit of time stateside these days, as she is especially drawn to Nashville. Actually she always seems to be traveling somewhere. Of late, she has been doing some shows under the moniker of Take Three Girls along with Sara Petite and Brigitte DeMeyer, angels all. They are in Moreno Valley, California tonight. Ange’s latest album Writing Letters came out earlier this year, but when she came to see us for the Fall Music Fog Marathon in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, she played us a brand new tune. Tom Mason and Bones Hillman accompany her here on “Fireflies.” Have fun this weekend and get home safe.

- Jessie Scott

Lake Street Dive "You Go Down Smooth"

Wednesday night was one of those celestial constellations of people, one of those nights that you know can happen, but that you can’t conjure by yourself. Some nights are touched by the divine. I thought it would be fun for "the girls" to go see the Paul Thorn Band at the Long Center in Austin, as he was opening for Huey Lewis and The News. So we trooped en mass to hang and dance and sing along, for what turned out to be a joyous night of music. And afterwards we were up for a nightcap at the Saxon Pub, where there was an astounding array of world class artists in the house. Paula Nelson, Walt Wilkins, Corby Schaub, George Devore, Cody Braun from Reckless Kelly, Hal Vorpahl from Uncle Lucius, Halleyanna and Ashley Monical, David Beck and Paul Cauthen, and The Damn Quails, to name just some of the folks congregated. It was a magical night. It drove home again why we do what we do. This is about the other music, the underside. These are people who make real music because they have to. It is the path with heart.

We are going to be rolling out videos from our latest adventure in Nashville, during Americana Fest, for a month or more. It is so hard to prioritize, so there is somewhat of a random nature to it. We captured so many gems that we will be basking in the afterglow of it all for quite some time. There were some legends that came before the Music Fog cameras, there were some longtime friends, and there was an array of brand new bands. Today we bring you Lake Street Dive. That is DIVE, not Drive, by the way, though your eyes may trick you. Their new live concert album Live at The Lizard Lounge came out a few months ago. It's available exclusively on their website, and includes video of the performance, too. They marry bop and swing and blues and gypsy jazz. Drummer Mike Calabrese, bassist Bridget Kearney, vocalist Rachael Price, and trumpeter/guitarist Mike “McDuck” Olson first met at Boston’s New England Conservancy. Attention: there is joy ahead, as we dig into “You Go Down Smooth,” from the studios at Marathon Recorders in Nashville.

- Jessie Scott